A Tale of Two Slings: Peak Design and Amazon Basics
First thing first: get your own googley-eye glasses for ridiculing unscrupulous business practices in 2 days or less with Amazon Prime: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08K46DVM6/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_XAQDY3W30FEKG8GTS2MS
Amazon is one of Peak Design’s biggest partners. We’ve been selling Peak Design products on Amazon for years, and we work closely with Amazon to remove counterfeit and copycat products from their marketplace. Hence, we were astonished when we found out Amazon had copied one of our bestselling bags. They call it the “Everyday Sling,” which, funny enough, is exactly what we call our product.
Amazon is a revolutionary service that we use and benefit from heavily. Also, Peak Design is not the first brand to see their products copied by an Amazon in-house brand. If we were really serious people, we might get on our soapbox and pontificate about the pitfalls of capitalism. But we’re not really serious people. So we got some googley-eye glasses (thanks Amazon Prime!) and made this video instead.
It’s our goal to make the best things. If we tried to make the cheapest things, we wouldn’t be us. Amazon reminded us of that. We appreciate the pep talk, Amazon.
Know what we really appreciate? Our customers. Thank you for supporting intense, obsessive design that focuses on novel solutions to real problems. Thank you for supporting design practices that account for a product’s lifecycle, and it’s external impact on people and the planet.
And if you want to know why Amazon just couldn’t resist copying the Peak Design Everyday Sling, check it out for yourself: https://www.peakdesign.com/collections/everyday-bags/products/everyday-sling?variant=29742302068780
Don’t worry PD, we’ll take care of it with the reviews & ratings đ
Amazon already turned off reviews on their bag
Amazing how Amazon allows fake reviews by the millions throughout their site but useful ones on the Everyday Sling from people who can educate about why itâs a knockoff and why it matters have quickly been restricted. The top positive reviews on the knockoff are from people who received free product! All I could do was report those and mark the negative reviews that talk about the Peak Design bag as helpful.
@L Amazon now allows sellers to delete negative feedback now as well. Their reviews are just a joke.
LMAO
The sign on the wall at 1:02 đđ “Command C + Command V + $$$” Brilliant!
This is excellent!
@Peak Design Fantastic!! đđ Actually made me laugh out loud.
What is this “Command”?
@Seoul Glo Applese for copy & paste: Command-C: Copy the selected item to the Clipboard. This also works for files in the Finder. Command-V : Paste the contents of the Clipboard into the current document or app. CTRL-C CTRL-V for Windows shoppers.
So the Amazon Basics team uses Macbooks? The irony.
@Galileo Morales They wouldn’t use the Amazon Basics laptops, as they need working devices.
Jeff Bezos is so poor he’s starting to have to steal designs to make ends meet. poor jeff
How a man can survive with only 17 yachts is beyond us. We’re thinking of starting a gofundme for him to start chipping away at #18.
And that’s why we need an international -thief- billionaire tax.
@Peak Design oh wait, its paid for already
Starting? They have been doing these things for years now. People don’t complain because it’s expensive to go against Amazon
@aserta or just strip from their wealth and give it to poor like in Soviet Union times.
Glad that someone is raising awareness to how Amazon knocks off products and sometimes even bans them from the platform to replace them by Amazon basics.
Quite the nefarious little bait and switch.
They wonât let people review due to âunusual reviewing activityâ
AKA people are review bombing the shit out of out copycat.
@David S Their profits are high enough it won’t affect them. But abusing the return system like that will get your account banned, and could lead to more difficult returns for the rest of us in the future. Basically it’s a stupid idea and might be fraud? The way to deal with this stuff is in the courts.
@David S Shipping unwanted items in circles seems to defeat the point of supporting a sustainable product
In all honesty, surpassing reviews is likely an abuse of monopoly power and an antitrust violation. I was an antitrust litigator for a long time. You should make sure Peak knows they did this in the event they sue.
@No Return If EVERY one did it once then how do they ban everyone? I’m allowed to return items no?
Didn’t they make a ripoff of Allbirds trainers too? It just shows that it’s not that Jeff Bezos disregards the environment, he has actual contempt for it.
They sure did! Peak Design is certainly not the first company to have a product copied by Amazon. And Amazon is certainly not the first company to copy a product from Peak Design. Like it or not, this is a reality of the product design world. So in moments like these, we resist outrage and instead use this as motivation to continue innovating. It’s also a great moment to say thanks to our customers, who purchase our products because they understand what goes into them. Lastly, it’s the perfect opportunity to put on googley-eye glasses and make a short film.
Amazon basics has a copycat product for nearly everything. And not a copycat product in that they serve the same purpose. They literally, like shown the video, take something that is selling well, cheapify it, and undercut the price of the original.
@Zac of No Trades AND push it up higher on their search results. So customers see the cheaper Amazon product before the higher quality original.
Amazon basics is “basically a division to copy and create lower and cheaper versions of everything. Pretty awesome move from you cheeky mofos at Peak Design. I have your sling and capture. Love them. Contemplating the everyday 20L bag and the travel tripod but need to save a little for that. Keep up the good work.
As a pretty frugal person, I chose to dish out 200$ for this bag for its durability and versatility. I plan on using it every week until it finally dies 3 days before my 95th birthday. Fact checking this video made my blood boil. WTF is the only thing that comes to mind.
Omg this is fantastic! âWhichever one you get youâll get exactly what you pay forâ Your products and company are exceptional and you all have nothing to worry about. I love all my bags and accessories, keep up the great work!
Just when I thought I couldn’t love you any more.
Also came here to say the same. MAN THIS COMPANY IS BALLER đ
Simp
@RoseCityRider if you arenât paying for Peak Designâs onlyfans than you are missing out. Dang I gotta take a cold shower now.
Just when I thought I couldnât hate Amazon anymore.
I use your products by myself and I sell them in the Outdoorshop I work in. This is a great Video! Keep on, making great products and those funny videos with a not so funny background!
Just left a 1star review on the Amazon Fakesics one. I have done my good deed for the day!
@Evan amazon deletes them, yeah. It’s ok, I’ll just place a reminder on my phone to go back and place a 1star review again in a week or two. They’ll delete all 1star reviews today/tomorrow, but they will have forgotten about it in a week and that’s when it’s the best time to post it again, then it won’t be deleted. And for the guy who said ‘that’s a fake review because you didn’t buy the product’: Amazon doesn’t require you to first purchase the product before leaving a review, so there’s nothing wrong with it lol. You can quote non-applicable laws all you want buddy
@LFP Gaming The FTC does. It is US law. Amazon allows reviews for items you didn’t purchase from them because you might have bought the item elsewhere. Leaving a review for an item you have never purchased/do not own is still against the FTC code listed above, and appears to be illegal. I’m not a lawyer but it’s pretty clear you aren’t either. And out of the two of us I’m betting I’ve done a bit more research than you have.
@No Return Sux to be american then I guess. Fortunately my country has freedom of speech and doesn’t have such laws
@LFP Gaming Not that you would know. Because you have almost certainly done 0 research and are basing this off of assumptions.
@LFP Gaming Also Amazon the one of the biggest corporations on the planet could still sue you. And South Africa and America have an extradition treaty. Before you start thinking you’re free of legal consequences.
Let me just say this. It takes a lot for me to buy a $50 camera strap and say, “wow, can’t wait to buy more things from this company.” Please keep doing what you do.
Real talk. Amazon is pathetic for this and they do it to small businesses all the time. Glad yâall decided to make this, really shines a light on it!
â@Fabien Fernandez There are laws governing generic medicine manufacturing. Someone has to pay for the R&D. Do you think big companies offloading design to smaller ones without giving them anything in return, while also enjoying quasi-monopoly thanks to regulations, is a tenable situation? Somehow I doubt you’ve ever done any entrepreneurship.
@Peak Design BS ALERT. Your products are made in the same slave sweatshops Amazon makes theirs. At least you admit it.
What is even more pathetic is actual consumers buying cheap crap on Amazon.
@M Tech Iâm sure the PD version is made from higher quality materials and has higher QC standards as well. If people are willing to pay that price for it, who are you to say itâs overpriced? In capitalism, there is no such thing as overpriced. The price is whatever people are willing to pay. On the other hand, if people want a lower quality version for a lot less, I donât see a problem with that either. Neither PD nor Amazon invented the purse / sling / carryall. NOW if Amazon are mucking with the search algs and promoting their own products and demoting PDâs â thatâs a problem. That crosses the line.
@Mohamed Shiraz With clothing and utility items there is no such thing as âripping off designsâ â both of them ripped off designs of products made by other companies, products that came out decades ago. Pick the most popular camera bag from the 1980s, and Iâll show you that thereâs more similarities than differences when comparing that to the PD product.
This was brilliant. Nice work Peak Design.
@Nhân TrĆ°ĆĄng Not sure what the difference is with pretty much every product out there. Look at cameras, cars, flashlights. TV’s, phones, you name it, there is a ton of similarities and. just a few slight changes that each OEM adds to make it a little bit different.
Hey Zack! Glad you’re here with us
@NEO Stephens you’re right, that’s why pd cant sue them, but
1. When you create something, take inspiration from multiple sources and make something new, not copy 90% from 1 design and make it worse. A good read would be How to steal like an artist.
2. This business model only shows Amazon’s greed, they have the cash to do R&D but they chose to blatantly copy a good design, making it worse, this is not how you move the world foward.
3. Cheap products imitating expensive ones will only suffer in quality, durability, since PD have tested and chose those materials after a long time of research and testing. Cheap things should be developed differently from the ground up with the production cost in mind.
Jerry please do a teardown on both of them and compare and tell them that glass scratches.
I can’t possibly be the only who read this in Jerry’s voice
When this happened to Allbirds, that advertised to me that Allbirds existed, and after research, I bought 2 pairs. Today, I’m buying a Peak Design Everyday Sling. Amazon has good advertising.
love
Yo, I used to watch your videos!
Consider the following: Peak Design probably spent more time and energy producing this mocking video than Amazon did designing their fourth rate China-caliber knockoff.
I don’t know about China caliber. It’s not as good quality as most camera centric products coming out of the China now. Many of the more affordable photography centric products out of China go toe to toe with the more expensive brands now.
Bezos is going to regret this when the 2025 Oscar for best picture is snatched away by the new film from Peak Design Prime Studios.
As someone who has to deal with copycats, this video was VERY enjoyable. Well done!
Such garbage… Iâve owned peak design bags for years. They are simply the best camera bag money can buy and worth every single penny. Your bags just LAST. Amazon needs to be held to account for their blatant rip-offs but Iâm honestly offended they even tried here. Hope you get an answer out of them soon.
Indeed, I’ve owned the amazon ripoff bag before, buying it unknowingly that it was ripped off and being blinded by the price, only for it to break WITH MY CAMERA INSIDE IT!! Good thing there was no actual damage to my camera but still very disappointed. And when i went to rate it it didn’t let me saying “unusual reviewing activity”
Those sweatshop workers Peak Design employees for slave wages are good at their job! Thanks for supporting slavery.
From their website: All Peak Design products are currently manufactured in two factories. Our soft goods are made in Ho Chi Minh, located in Southern Vietnam and our hard goods are made in Dongguan, an urban and industrial city in China’s Pearl River Delta.
Wait… THE ‘MARKIPLIER’ supports peak design too!? :O
Amazon: “It’s not true! I did not copy Peak Design! I did naaaaaht. Oh, hi Mark!”
*_oh hey mark_*
Damn